Franchise Law

In this article we discuss business succession planning and explain how to use buy-sell agreements to plan for an owner’s retirement. We explain three different options to plan for a business owner’s retirement with buy-sell agreements, including: the company purchasing a retiring owners shares through a lump sum payment, the company purchasing a retiring owner’s shares through installment payments, and the gradual transfer of a retiring owner’s shares to the next generation.  

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There are three general categories of intellectual property that can be protected under U.S. law: Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents.

Trademarks protect a business' name, logo, or slogan from use by other businesses.  Patents protect a discovery, invention, or idea.  Copyrights protect original works of authorship such as writings, photos, music, movies, software, and architecture.

‍Original works of authorship may be copyrighted whether they are published or unpublished.  Your work is protected by copyright automatically as soon as it is "fixed in a tangible medium."  This does not mean that a hard-copy of your work needs to be created in order to receive the benefits of copyright protection.  So long as the work can be perceived with the aid of a device such as a computer, the "tangible medium" requirement has been met.